Tech trouble leaves Chelsea game ref without comms

On Sunday, Chelsea faced Brighton at Stamford Bridge, during which referee Michael Oliver and his team arrived at the match without their communications equipment. For 45 minutes of the game, this absence marked a possible 20-year hiatus in Premier League communication. Oliver, his assistants Stuart Burt and James Mainwaring, and fourth official Tom Bramall, along with video assistant referee Andrew Kitchen, found themselves unable to communicate effectively with each other.

The introduction of microphone and earpiece technology in the 1999-2000 season, and its further upgrade in the 2006-07 campaign, aimed to improve the efficiency of referees' communication. However, in this specific instance, the problem persisted, leading to the team deciding it was not feasible to salvage the situation. The issue lay with the crowd noise filtering into the system, which made their communication difficult.

This incident highlighted the importance of clear communication between officials and the video assistant, as the VAR needed to rely solely on his own assessment of incidents without the referee's input. In an age when referees carry increasing amounts of equipment, it may have been a welcome relief for Oliver and his team to revert to the simpler methods of the past.